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Candidate Responds To Claim That He Failed To Pay Property Taxes
August 14, 2012
A District 5 Escambia County Commission candidate says that claims he has not paid his property taxes from last year are true, but the non-payment was just an oversight.
In a published newspaper ad on Sunday, District 5 Commission candidate Jim Taylor claimed that one of his opponents, candidate Sam Archer, did not pay his property taxes.
The Escambia County Tax Collector’s Office confirmed Monday that Archer has not paid 2011 taxes on seven properties, including his primary residence, and has not paid a 2011 tangible personal property tax bill. The taxes, fees and interest total $8,128.46.
“I did not realize that until today,” Archer said Monday evening. ” I have a CPA that takes care of that, or my wife takes care of that. Evidently in the hustle and bustle of campaigning every day, I overlooked that they had not been paid. I’ve been out there all day, every day on the campaign.”
“I probably have not written a check for taxes in over a decade; someone else like the CPA takes care of that. But the taxes will be paid.”
Archer said that he has refrained from attacking other candidates in the District 5 commission race, avoiding “mud slinging”. He said he was happy to respond to the claims about his taxes.
Tax certificates were sold on seven properties owned by Archer, according to the Escambia County Tax Collector Office.
“An investor or bidder buys the tax certificate so the county gets paid,” Tax Collector Janet Holly said. “A tax certificate in Florida is a vehicle that allows the taxing authority to get their money.” Additional fees and interest are added to the late tax account to be paid by the property owner when their property tax is paid, allowing the certificate owner to make a small profit. The property owner has a period of two years from the date the tax became delinquent to redeem the tax certificate.
Comments
23 Responses to “Candidate Responds To Claim That He Failed To Pay Property Taxes”
Perhaps Mr. Archer should hire Steven Barry as his new CPA!
My dad says “A man that’ll lie, will steal”.
My dad always says “a man that lies will also steal”.
Personal accountability goes a long way. If a man provides excuses all the time, he obviously takes no accountability for his actions. We are all responsible for ourselves.
If the taxes are not paid is the tax lien placed against the CPA, no it is the property owner who is held accountable. We are all responsible for ourselves.
To Mnon:
Student loans are designed to be paid back over many years, the minimum repayment period is 10 years, longer for excessive amounts (like medical school, law school, Etc.) I know this because I was paying for a long time (over 10 years). No lender expects a person to pay student loans off in a year. None of this prevents a person from paying them sooner if they choose to, but who can afford that right out of school?
This is article is exactly what I was talking about earlier. Sam is blaming everyone else for this but himself. Sam says that his occupation is “Real Estate Management.” Does he really want us to believe that he is in Real Estate Management and is unaware of the Property tax?
What is funny is that he actually paid taxes on SOME of his properties but those were properties. Did he think that the county was not collecting on all of his properties this year?
Yeah, Sam has an excuse for everything. Maybe someday SOMETHING will be his fault.
I’m sure Sam’s wife appreciates being thrown under the bus with the CPA.
Gonna be a chilly night around that old tax-free homestead.
This was brought up at a Candidates Forum in July. You said to the best of your knowledge they had been paid. Think I would have double checked the next day.
Come on Sam. You found out about this on Sunday and it is Tuesday? I think I would have been there to pay on Monday. You can even pay online!
Based on tax records Sam has “missed” paying taxes more than last years. I use a CPA and he does not pay my bills. Tax records went to “good old Sam” and he elected not to pay. With any luck Wilson will introduce Sam to Forest and we can all go back to the Escambia County of the 50’s and 60’s.
To Mnon:
You do not get it. It is not the number of dollars Mr. Archer has not paid in taxes — the issue is he has not paid his property taxes — nothing — -0-.
Why elect Mr. Archer or anyone to oversee county funds when that person has not paid what is required of him/her.
By the way, the balance on taxes comes due every year. I am certain that the balances on your student loans are not billed that way.
I do not believe he did not know. You get too many notices on property taxes being due. Here is a man that probably has been paying taxes for years and now, all of the sudden, has forgotten. I don’t buy it.
>>honestly think the person you elect is sitting behind a desk with all your tax dollars piled up to spend? You guys are delusional
Physically, no. Control, yes. Commissioners control how every tax dollar is spent are divided up for other constitutional officers to spend.
While we are at, we might as well elect a Sheriff that does not believe that pesky little law about robbery does not apply to him. He just stick up convenience stores on Friday nights to make his budget. Same difference.
here we go again florida politics.
carolyn bramblett….i hear so many floridians complain about florida, elections, the way the state is ran, this that and the other, i dont know how true your statement is about president obama’s staff, i question it, I believe you go that out of your “wishes this were true” but the people of florida voted rick scott for government although he oversaw the most massive Medicare fraud scheme in American history. Rick Scott pleaded guilty to 14 counts of corporate felony and paid $840 million in criminal fines and damages for medicaid fraud. This property tax issue is just a walk in the part compared to what your now governor has done.
WHAT IS UP WITH FLORIDIANS.
There is absolutely no advantage or benefit to a property owner in not paying property tax. This man had no intent not to pay……
Good try…..We are voting for Sam Archer
Ol Jim Taylor will do anything try and stir the pot about Sam he is a honest man nobody is perfect we love ya Sam !!!!! Fester go get back in the circus and your robo calling
The harder you work and the more education you have will make you more money, but you control what you want out of life, only you. It is always the ones whom do not do this are the ones who have the problem with the people who work hard.
Today will end this mans political career!!!
So what! Wow, you guys have nothing more to complain about other than 8,000 in unpaid property taxes?! I have twice that in unpaid student loans, it is really no big deal in my opinion. Hate the burst your bubbles too, Archer wouldn’t be handling your tax dollars anyway, someone else in the office would. You honestly think the person you elect is sitting behind a desk with all your tax dollars piled up to spend? You guys are delusional. I’m glad Mr. Archer does have money, and he can pay his property tax. I have an agent, does that make me a rock star in everyone’s eyes? So what if he has a CPA, good for him, but I’d chew him/her out for not covering my property tax. Everyone else complaining and making a big deal about it are the people I would worry about because to them I guess $8,000 is a big deal. You realize you would have much more to worry about in the seat other than a paltry $8,000 over-site than can easily be paid?
I’m more worried about the candidates digging up dirt, than I am the candidate with “dirt” to dig. The ones digging up the mud to sling are the shady people you have to look out for, they will steal you blind and lie about it the entire time.
How can it be dirty to bring up that someone has not paid their property taxes? We’ve seen what has happened as Mr. Obama has appointed many people who were delinquent on their taxes and look how they run this government. It is the duty of the citizenry to pay their property taxes. That ought to be at least one aspect of reviewing someone who has put themselves up as a candidate.
A man that paid 86,000 of his own money to his campaign didn’t pay his taxes? You must be kidding me. So let’s think about this:
1. He’s being investigated by the state election office for missing or false information on his campaign report
2.he has not paid taxes on several properties
How can anyone trust him with our tax dollars? I would not trust him with our budget or the millions coming from BP. It was asked to each candidate over 3 weeks ago at a public forum and every candidate said there taxes were paid up including mr. Archer. The saying always goes “The buck stops here” . Thank you Mr. Taylor for doing your research after that forum and bringing this public.
must be nice to have enough money to have a cpa pay your bills and things like that. this guy is obviously not like the majority of the citizens in the county. most of us are doing good to keep our single piece of property and he has at least 7.
Why can’t people running for office just run on their plan and what they stand for.All these folks do(most of them) is try to dig up some kind of dirt on each other. From county commisioners all the way to the white house. It’s really getting boring . For this reason I will not vote for Morgan. Well , thats not the only reason,but it makes it easier to decide.
First, it was probably dirty of Taylor to bring this up. Second, how can a commission candidate not pay his taxes then expect us to elect him to set tax millage rates and then spend the tax money the rest of us pay?
I got busy waving by Hwy 29 is not an excuse. Legal notices are published in the paper of those that don’t pay their taxes. So you were legally notified 3 times that you did not pay up.
Why is this still unpaid today? If you knew about it Monday, you should have paid it Monday. Walk into any tax office (there are 2 of them in District 5) and write a chieck, or pay online instantly with a credit card.
If you are seriously going to blame this on your CPA, it’s time to hire a new one.